Some systems that provide services to customers (including access to computing resources) provide “spot instances” of those resources through various resource pools. Different resource pools may include instances of different types of resources and/or resources having different capabilities and/or performance specifications. Systems that provide spot instances typically allow customers to submit a resource request in order to bid on the use of any unused capacity in a resource pool. If the request is granted, the requested resource instance (or instances) may be allocated to the customer as long as the bid amount included in the request (i.e. the maximum price the customer is willing to pay per instance hour) exceeds the current spot price.
In some cases, the customer may pay less per hour for a resource instance than the bid amount included in the resource request. For example, if the request is granted, the customer may be charged the current spot price, regardless of the bid amount included in the request. However, the customer may never pay more than the bid amount included in the request. Instead, any resource instances allocated to the customer may be revoked (e.g., the resource instances may be terminated) if the spot price rises above the bid amount included in the request.
In some systems, the spot pricing approach that is applied during periods of contention for resources (e.g., when demand exceeds supply) may be different than the spot pricing approach that is applied during periods of non-contention (e.g., when supply is greater than demand). For example, a standard spot pricing model for the non-contention scenario is to apply a default spot price or a minimum spot price that is reflective of operating costs.
While the technology described herein is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.